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Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Fall Tree Q-tip Painting

So fall is here and our fall crafts are in full
force. We did this adorable craft the other day. Living in Los Angeles we don't get true seasons like
other parts of the country, but I'm trying to teach Dylan, Jake and Emma about
fall and the leaves changing colors. We've been reading various books about
fall and the leaves on the trees are finally starting to change colors. This project tied in everything we have been
talking about.

This is a great art project to do, not only to help your
little one understand the season of fall, but also work on fine motor skills
with the painting.

On this day we began the project by reading one
of our favorite books, a Clifford's puppy days book called Apple-Picking Day by Samantha Brooke where it talks about fall.Then we looked out the window and observed the
color of a tree trunk. I told them today their arm was going to be the trunk of
our tree and their fingers were going to be the branches. I painted their arm
using a paint brush and brown washable paint, had them spread their fingers and
immediately pressed their arm onto the paper. (I have baby wipes on stand by to
wipe the paint off right away!)

Tree trunk

While the paint from the "trunks" were
drying we took a nature walk outside to look at the leaves on the trees and
collect leaves off the ground that have already fallen. They loved this!
So simple, yet so exciting for them. They each had a little baggie to put
the leaves they collected in so it could act as their inspiration for the
project we were going to go complete.By the time we finished our nature walk our
trunks were dry and we were ready to paint our leaves on our masterpieces. We
talked about all the different color leaves we saw and as we said each color I
put the paint on their paint palette (aka a paper plate).

Our paint palettes

Then it was time to introduce the Q-tips. They
were so excited to see they would get to make polka dots to symbolize the
leaves. It's always fun to find new objects for them to paint with and Q-tips
are great for fine motor skills. Plus they are cheap and you toss them when you
are done! (For younger kids, you could modify this and have them do it
with finger prints instead.)

Emma busy at work

Jake very focused

Dylan having fun

I encouraged them to fill in the top part of
their trunk and branches and then to make it look like the leaves were falling
down. I also told them to try and add grass at the bottom. Those were the only
directions I gave. They did excellent. Their artwork is so different, but they
were all perfect!

This art project took up a good portion of our
morning and they were so proud to display them in the kitchen window for daddy
to see for when he got home from work. I backed each of them on a different
color piece of construction paper to add some more color and make them stand
out since we were hanging them up. They are the perfect decoration for
your home this fall! Enjoy!